BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Badly letdown by the batting, West Indies recalled Ramnaresh Sarwan as the only change to their squad for the fourth One-day International against Pakistan tomorrow at Kensington Oval here.
Sarwan was one of three senior batsmen that controversially lost their place in the side, following the recent World Cup, where West Indies reached the quarter-finals before their current opponents knocked them out.
But the new-look side, under Darren Sammy, has batted atrociously in the first three ODIs, and the West Indies selectors have aborted the plan to shop for new talent, bringing back the stylish Sarwan to add some spine to the brittle batting.
Devon Smith may have been the West Indies’ most successful batsmen at the World Cup, but he is the unfortunate choice to make room for Sarwan in the squad, after falling lbw to the part-time off-spin of Mohammad Hafeez in every match of the series so far.
Sammy recognised that his side had a serious problem with the batting, following last Thursday’s third ODI at Kensington Oval, which West Indies lost to trail 0-3 in the five-match series.
“We as a batting unit, myself included, have to take more responsibility like Bishoo does with the ball,” he said.
“It’s about getting the formula right. We have had good starts, but we haven’t capitalised on them.”
“The way forward is to gain experience. This group is not short on talent, but we need to play, and get more consistency.”
It’s a refrain that West Indies captains over the last 15 years have been singing, but little has changed to change their tune, and it’s open to question whether Sarwan can change the fortunes of the side in the short term.
His credentials are hefty – a player with over a decade of international experience, which has yielded 166 appearances in this format of the game.
Sarwan has contributed just one hundred in ODIs in the last five years though. It was against ICC Associate nation Ireland, and he managed just 155 runs at 25.83 during the recent World Cup, hardly evidence to suggest confidence in him.
It was also mentioned by fellow West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, another one of the senior batting trio omitted from the squad, that Sarwan “did not have a clue” about how to approach batting during the World Cup, and was “messed-up mentally”.
“He did not know his right foot from his left foot,” said Gayle. “He was not in the right frame of mind.
“He came back in the side and wanted to get a score, and it may have looked like he was batting slow, but he did not want to get dropped again – and that affected the team.”
West Indies will hope Sarwan has regained his focus, and is in the right frame of mind to help them avoid another defeat, despite the turmoil that has engulfed him and the game in the region.
He has not played quality matches since the World Cup, but he made a double hundred in a Guyana domestic match, which served as testimony that he had not lost anything.
West Indies however, have lost their last eight ODIs against the Pakistanis, spanning the last four years, and they hope Sarwan can help them snap the losing streak.
Squad:
Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice captain), Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Anthony Martin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons
